"A New England wiseguy who bought his membership in the Philadelphia mob and who later reneged on a cooperating agreement with the government went on trial in Boston yesterday on cocaine-trafficking charges.

Robert Luisi Jr., 41, who at one point was prepared to testify against Philadelphia mob boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino, instead found himself at the defense table being prosecuted by the same federal authorities with whom he had been cooperating.

Referred to as "Boston Bob" by several Philadelphia mob figures, Luisi and three associates were charged in June 1999 with dealing drugs to an undercover FBI agent posing as a corrupt Boston-area businessman. The case was built almost entirely around secretly recorded audio and videotapes on which the drug deals were said to have been set up and carried out. Many of those tapes are expected to be played for the jury.

Rumors that the government was having second thoughts about using Luisi as a witness surfaced during Merlino's trial last summer. While federal authorities would not comment, underworld sources and defense lawyers said the reputed wiseguy had "found religion" and begun quoting the Bible in prison. Federal prosecutors became concerned about Luisi's demeanor and comportment if he took the witness stand.

Luisi, who was expected to corroborate mob informant Ron Previte's testimony about Merlino's authorizing the Boston cocaine deals, was never called.

Luisi, who signed a cooperating agreement with the government in June 2000, withdrew that agreement and his guilty plea to the drug charges in December.

Luisi, whose father, brother and cousin were gunned down in an infamous mob hit at a Boston-area restaurant in 1995, was an organized-crime associate in New England but was refused formal initiation into the organization, according to federal documents that are part of the criminal case.

In 1998, Luisi was made a member of the Philadelphia family by Merlino and assigned the rank of capo or captain, according to those same documents. He was to oversee the Philadelphia crime family's interests in New England.

In exchange, according to law-enforcement and underworld sources, Luisi agreed to send Merlino $10,000 a month in so-called tribute payments."

http://articles.philly.com/2002-09-11/ne...ny-joey-merlino

"In the late 1990s, Gentile became a sworn member of a Boston-based crew of the dominant mafia group in Philadelphia, law enforcement and other sources said.
Durham said during the hearing in federal court in March that Gentile was associated with a crew active in Boston and led by capo Robert Luisi, but associated with Philadelphia's mafia family. It was Luisi who "made" Gentile by inducting him into the Philadelphia family, Durham said in court.
When Luisi was arrested and confronted with a long prison sentence for selling cocaine about a decade ago, he implicated Gentile and other alleged members of his crew in a long list of criminal activity, Durham said."

http://www.fivefamiliesnyc.com/2012/04/mobster-linked-to-gardner-art-theft-hit.html